The Democrat Party of Arkansas is calling for the resignation of Jefferson County Election Commissioner Stu Soffer following issues with misprogramed voting machines.
In a press release on ArkDems.org, the party states “152 people in Jefferson County were given the wrong ballots during Early Voting for the March 3rd primary because of a misprogrammed machine, and in turn denied their most basic of rights. This impacts the Democratic primary for Senate District 25 (Efrem Elliott and Sen. Stephannie Flowers) and Senate District 27 (Keidra Phillips-Burrell and Garry Smith).”
Democrat Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray is calling for Soffer’s resignation.
“This could have been prevented. Election Commissioner Stu Soffer, who has admitted fault, should do the right thing and resign immediately. I fully expect Governor Asa Hutchinson and GOP Chair Doyle Webb to call on him to resign as well,” said Gray. “Soffer has a long history of abusing the elections process and manipulating the election commission and its procedures in order to facilitate, whether intentionally or unintentionally, an agenda of systemic voter suppression and the denial of African-American’s full participation in the local voting process. Furthermore, his aggressive and physically threatening behaviors toward the sole African-American commissioner demonstrate an inability to serve all voters in Jefferson County due to racial bias.”
Soffer sent out a press release on Thursday noting the issues with the machines”
At about 11:30 today, the Jefferson County Clerk learned the incorrect Senate race was on Democratic ballot styles 12 and 14. The race for District 27 should have been listed but District 25 was. This error effects precincts 221, 222, 223 and 224. This is what has been done to rectify the error and a special meeting of the election is needed for (probably) 5 p.m. today to approve the temporary measures taken for election day. Measures taken by the Clerk for early voting were at the advice of counsel and he call. They will be effective. Additionally, the Clerk will be reaching out to every absentee ballot voter in these precincts and mailing them the supplement Senate District 27 ballot. Conversely, the election commission will count absentee ballots from these four districts by hand to ensure no votes cast in the wrong race are counted; and, the supplemental ballots will be counted upon receipt, probably at the March 13 meeting when provisional ballots are adjudicated.
For the immediate, Election Systems & Software has confirmed only these four precincts were involved. Up until the discrepancy was discovered, 139 voters from these four precincts early voted.
Early voters from precincts 221, 222, 223 and 224 henceforth for this election will be voted on a paper ballot using excess absentee ballots. The race for Senate District 25 printed on these ballots will be marked out and an attachment containing the Senate District 27 race will be attached. The County Clerk will also attach the voter’s early voting authorization form to each ballot as the internal control. These voters will also sign the List of Voters at the Clerk’s office.
For election day, all four of these precincts vote at First Baptist Church on Hazel Street in Pine Bluff. ES&S is in the process of preparing new media which will be overnighted to us. Those iVotronics will be reprogramed on Monday and everything should be normal for election day voters.
We are informing the four Democratic Senate candidates involved once SOS provides their e-mail addresses.
For the benefit of the media, apparently some voters noticed this discrepancy early on but neglected to bring it to anyone’s attention. That would have been beneficial and we would have had sufficient time to respond and get the early voting machines reprogramed. It’s kind of like when you get a bad hamburger at a restaurant but don’t say anything to the manager for a few weeks. Errors are made, and I am responsible for this one because I programed the election and neither I, the other two commissioners who review the ballot styles and assigned precincts or the administrator caught this error. Given the fact Jefferson County has 171 precincts and this is the largest election of the year, the error in magnitude is a small one and easily corrected; but I am sure it is significant to the four candidates involved and sincerely apologize for it. Hopefully both races will be decided by more than 139 votes. If one or both are not, the losing candidate has the option of contesting the results in court. However, if it is close, I am confident the election commission will call for a recount before certifying. We will discuss options at today’s meeting.
Gray also spoke about issues with Soffer in the past, including allegations of Soffer drawing a gun and threatening physical violence against other commissioner’s.
“In recent years, Soffer has drawn a gun in the presence of Commissioner Ted Davis, and on October 29 a criminal complaint was filed with the Jefferson County prosecuting attorney’s office regarding yet another physical threat at a meeting. Soffer’s harassment of African-American election commissioners must be put to a stop. Now, his actions have directly denied people their right to cast a ballot in their own district.”
Gray has sent a formal letter to the state Board of Election Commissioners, Governor Asa Hutchinson, and Secretary of State John Thurston calling for a full and formal review of the precincts in question (for 2016, 2018, and 2020), as well as every precinct in Arkansas to ensure free and fair elections.
“The Democratic Party of Arkansas stands with the voters of Jefferson County and all of our candidates,” said Gray.
Soffer told the Arkansas Times that he has no reason to step down.
“There is no reason for me to step down,” said Soffer. “What occurred was not intentional and measures to avoid it were taken. What I did had no bearing on my serving as an election commissioner. I do not want to be laying out elections and YES, will “step down” from performing that function as soon as Sven Hipp is ready to solo. I think he will be ready by the general election and I intend to take a back seat but monitor because there are so many pitfalls that only experience helps avoid.”
The remainder of Soffer’s release to the Arkansas Times can be viewed by Clicking Here.
